The Presidency has blasted a some state governors for criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the attack was an attempt to cover for their failures.
The presidency in a statement issued on Thursday by the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in Abuja, said some of these Governors are indebted to their states’ workers with a backlog of unpaid salaries but resort to attacking the President as a diversion.
He said, “Some Governors think they can be heroes by antagonizing the President. If they owe salaries and pensions, once the month is ending, they begin to abuse the President, thinking their people would forget the outstanding salaries and pensions. When they have not built a single kilometer of road, it is Buhari.
“When infrastructure has decayed under them, it is Buhari. When they can’t secure the lives and property of the people they govern, it is Buhari.
“They play to the gallery, thinking they will receive applause from their people. No, the only sound the people hear is the rumbling from their bellies, due to hunger. And they know where their problems come from”.
The presidency had in a similar manner attacked the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, in reaction to criticisms by the governor.
The Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Shehu Garba, in an essay titled, ‘The Incongruence of Governor Ortom on AriseTV’, had launched a scathing attack on Governor Ortom over his incessant attacks and criticisms of the President Buhari-led administration.
The governor had repeatedly appeared in the media, accusing the Federal Government of neglecting his state especially during the height of the violent clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
Nonetheless, Shehu dispelled the accusations noting that the Federal Government had repeatedly come to the rescue of Benue State especially in the bailout in order to meet salary payments to its public workers.
Garba added that, “Governor Samuel Ortom, office holder, is that other politician. He inherited unpaid salaries and pension arrears – and rather than find a way to raise the funds to pay them, he has blamed the President”.
